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Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi. He is the fourth minister to lose his post since the beginning of the year.
Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi. He is the fourth minister to lose his post since the beginning of the year. The country is undergoing tense political uncertainty. The news of his sack was announced on its official website. Mr. Jerandi, has been in office since September 2020. He is replaced by Nabil Ammar, Ambassador of Tunisia to the European Union.
Since the beginning of January, Mr. Saied has already dismissed three ministers: the Minister of Trade as well as the Ministers of Agriculture and Education. Tunisia has been plagued by deep divisions since the coup by President Saied who assumed all powers in July 2021. He also revised the Constitution a year later to stay in power.
www.trendnafrica .com recently reported about the arrest of a senior trade union leader from UGTT, the powerful trade union organization in the country, which led to demonstrations in the Northern African country. The trade union alleged that the high-handed approach of the president was to divert the public attention from the failure of recently held elections, where the turnout of the electorate was recorded low, hovering between 9 and 11 percent. Most of the opposition parties boycotted the election on the plea that it was not held in a free and fair manner.
In addition to these political tensions, Tunisia is also shaken by a financial crisis because of a debt bordering on 80% of the GDP. The country is also facing recurrent shortages of basic products and high inflation.
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The government has been negotiating for months an agreement for a new loan of 1.9 billion euros from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in return for reforms. The IMF, in principle, has agreed to give the concessional loan but only on conditions like the government cutting down subsidies. However, the government is dragging its feet since the rollout of subsidies could create a lot of heart-burning among the citizens, who are reeling under the pressure of an already high price level.
